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DESSERT FIRST!

Hard to believe, but we'll be celebrating our 10th Anniversary this year and beginning our 11th summer season. It'll be our 3rd anniversary in downtown historic Fredericksburg. We've come a long way from our first farmer's market in the Purple Cow--over 500 events, thousands of batches of creamy delicious ice cream (over 350 flavors to date) and probably around 200,000 guests.

We're looking forward to 2022--we're starting to build our spring/summer crew for Fredericksburg and training a new crew for Stafford. Yes, we're opening a new location! We'll be in the new Embrey Mill Town center near Publix. More on that as we get closer to our build-out. New hire info is on our Contact Us page.

Our Mission

Keep putting a smile on your face by making and serving the best ice cream in Northern Virginia! As Mom says... "so good you'll have to go to church after eating it!"

FALL / WINTER HOURS

ABNER B'S ICE CREAM
Sunday: 1-6
Monday - Thursday: 1-8
Friday/Saturday: 1-9

EXTENDED
SPRING/SUMMER HOURS BEGIN MID MAY

Our Story....

The story of Abner Butterfield goes back 40+ years to monthly pilgrimages to Grandma's. She and Grandad lived some distance away so our family couldn't go all the time. It was a bit of a trip and as it happened, about halfway there was a small soft serve ice cream shop. For some reason riding in the back seat put my brother and I to sleep but we would always wake up just in time to stop off for ice cream...and it didn't matter that it was 10am either.  That's how it started...
     A few years ago, we began experimenting with "dip-style" ice cream to satisfy my own developing sweet tooth for creative home-style ice creams, one that even the premium ones, just couldn't satisfy.  While we started with more traditional flavors...blueberry, peach, strawberry, banana walnut, and cookies and cream... our horizons quickly expanded to trying new flavors and combinations of flavors. Never having a shortage of taste testers has also meant a steady supply of well-wishing (and hoping) that we'd have a regular going concern at some point to help satisfy their sweet toothes as well.
    In 2011, we built a small plant in Stafford, Virginia, to produce ice cream for local wholesalers and retailers and to support our own retail operations at area farmers' markets, local school and club events, and corporate events.
     In 2012, the "king bee" made a trip to Penn State to attend their Ice Cream Short Course, the course that covers everything from cow to cone, and graduated 2d in the class.   Returning home, we built the "Purple Cow"--a 27' ice cream shop on wheels that we now take to events... over 50 during the 2012 season!
     2013 proved to be a fantastic year for us!   We did 80+ events at three farmer's markets, plus corporate events, and a handful of private events including our first wedding event! The "king bee" went back to Penn State to audit their Ice Cream 101 course.
     In 2014, the king bee started out with another return trip to Penn State-this time as a presenter for the Ice Cream Short Course.  Really kicked off the year right. Back home, we created some great new flavors including Chocolate Stripe Peanut Butter Chip, Lemon Cookies and Cream, Banana Pudding, and Banana Chocolate Chip Granola Crunch. Did 49 different flavors in total for the year. We also went 'green' by converting the truck refrigeration system to solar power.
     2015 was a year of change. We moved and built a new plant--4 times bigger than our previous plant.  Reviewed our flavor library and discovered we've done 105 flavors over our history--we have at least double that to go that's already in "the book".  After finishing a slightly shortened season, we started planning in earnest for new equipment, updates to the Purple Cow and perhaps a few menu additions.
     In 2016, we were back to a full season and started using our new batch freezer and blast freezer, finished up some loose ends on the plant, and starting working on upgrading the truck.
      2017 proved to be a busy year with lots of new flavors-we served 57 different flavors during the season and our all-time flavor count jumped to 145! We also served 10,000+ customers at over 90 events.
      In 2018, we began for our newest endeavor--Abner B's located in downtown Historic Fredericksburg. We opened the new shop in May 2019 and haven't slowed down since.
Since opening at 821 Caroline street, we've made over 170 new flavors at Abner B's (over 330 total). We rotate amongst 110 different traditional, seasonal, and our own signature flavors on a daily basis.

Looking forward to seeing your face in our place! ;-pO>

- King Bee